Child Maltreatment in Binge Eating Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review

Objective: This review is to provide a first overview about prevalences and associations of forms of child maltreatment in binge eating disorder (BED). Methods: Systematic literature search in PubMed and Web of Science in December 2013. Terms considered were "binge eating disorder" AND "child* maltreatment", "child* abuse", "child* sexual abuse", "child* emotional abuse", "child* physical abuse", "child* emotional neglect" as well as "child* physical neglect". Inclusion criteria were studies published between 1990 and 2013, publications in English or German, adult patients, studies that considered patients with full DSM criteria for BED, and studies that reported prevalences of forms of child maltreatment. Results: Eight studies out of 366 met criteria. Child maltreatment rates in BED were more than two times higher than in representative samples, but they were similar to psychiatric comparisons. Up to 83% of patients with BED reported at least one form of child maltreatment. There were associations to psychiatric comorbidity, but not to gender, obesity and specific features of the eating behaviour. Conclusion: Child maltreatment is very prevalent among BED. Its contribution to the development and the maintenance of BED is not understood yet.